Things are looking up in Grandview, where the boys soccer team is 9-0 and atop the CWAC South one season after finishing dead last at 3-10 in the five-team division.
"We went through heartbreak last year. We couldn't get a win to save our lives," said Greyhounds coach Anne Holden, who began managing the boys squad in 1998.
The wins haven't come easy lately -- among them a 2-1 shootout win over Ellensburg on April 8 and a 1-0 win over Prosser on Saturday -- but they keep piling up nonetheless.
"You never know when a shootout is going to come," Holden said. "But we need guys to step up and handle the pressure. I'm grateful for the practice."
Not since 2002 have the Greyhounds reached the 2A state tournament, and they have yet to win a tournament game in two appearances (1999 and 2002). But this group could be the one to change all that.
Sammy Villa is tied for third in the CWAC with 10 goals, and goalkeeper Teclo Perez has had a strong year with two shutouts and a 1.19 goals against average in 740 minutes.
"It's a pleasure to watch these guys play. I told them you don't often get winning streaks of this kind," Holden said. "First of all, you don't get a big head about it, and second you enjoy it."
-- Connell has enjoyed another strong year, building on a returning core that included Raul Farias, the SCAC's leading scorer last year with 19 goals.
But Farias has taken more of a playmaker's role this year, trading goals for assists, but that could make the Eagles an even more dangerous team come playoff time.
"We're more like a team instead of just Raul," said Connell coach Hugo Garcia. "If we continue working like this, I have a strong feeling we can go far."
Farias still leads the team with 15 goals -- four coming in Thursday's 8-0 win over Kiona-Benton -- but he's also among the league leaders in assists with seven. Eduardo Arzate (8 goals, 6 assists) and Jose Barragan (6 goals) have picked up some of the scoring slack when Farias is double-covered, which is virtually all the time.
And keeper Jose Garibay leads the high-scoring SCAC with a 0.66 GAA and four shutouts.